Dan and Doug's Trip to Germany and the 2006 FIFA World Cup
June 11-17, 2006

Sunday, July 09, 2006

A Much More Enjoyable Rally

The Fanfest in Nuremberg was held at the Volksfestplatz, an area where the Nazis hosted youth rallies about 70 years earlier. And while there were still lots of young people singing and chanting, the scene is much improved.

Without tickets to the game, we joined thousands of English fans to watch the game on the jumbotron. Outside of the United States, England is our second favorite team. We're certainly envious of the passion and enthusiasm the entire country has for their team, something we picked up while watching Premiership highlights and the European Championships on TV ten years ago.

A big highlight of the Fanfest was singing along with the crowd to some of our favorite English football songs, like "Three Lions" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." The crowd was a little confused when the emcee encouraged everyone to sing along to YNWA, since this is the team anthem for Liverpool and if you're English but not a Liverpool fan, then it's not really your song.

The emcee, who spoke with a think German accent, also played "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Jurgen Klinsmann?" a mocking English tribute to the German coach. He introduced it by saying, "You like zat song? You sink you vill hear zat song in Germany? Well, vee are good hosts. Vee play it for you." The Germans were indeed good hosts.